Firmtek & SeriTek/1eVE2+2: 2-Port Internal, 2-Port External PCI-X Adapter

[klock22a]

I placed an order with Firmtek on May 2nd for a SeriTek/1eVE2+2: 2-Port Internal, 2-Port External PCI-X Adapter. The site took my credit card information, but I do not see any charge applied. However, I do not see any update to my order information either. I have tried calling their number at least 20 times over several days and no one is answering the phone--not a single person including who is listed as the owner of the company (I did just leave her a voice message). Does anyone know if this company is still in business? I also tried using their contact form and that does not work either.

[macStuff]

i would say the writing is on the wall pal
being that it is 2019 and they conducted most of their business primarily during 2003-2006 time period
its been 13 years - in tech years thats like a millennium

probably have to find someone with old stock or buy used

[klock22a]

Well, Pal, that's all fine, etc., but they are taking credit card information still. What are they doing with that? At this point, it looks like a "front" for something-very suspicious, like time to contact the attorney general, etc. I frankly do not understand why their site is still up, etc. Anyone actually knows anything about this, greatly appreciate your sharing what this company is "up to" or if it has "folded", etc. Thanks.

[macStuff]

"the writing is on the wall pal" is an expression found in books/comics/movies/tvshows english culture
i have no idea where this originates from; but its in my brain; probably from the 1980s;

re: Firmtek; they have a few modern products but i think the company is barely hanging on at this point.
i vaugely remember that i tried to contact them around 2015 and beleive that i did not receive a response
the copyright date seems to been updated to say 2018; so someones worked on the site as recently as last year;

i find it strange that such a company would be using "Yahoo.net" for their e-commerce site
https://firmtek.stores.yahoo.net/

did you call them on this phone line?

FirmTek, LLC
29300 Kohoutek Way
Suite 120
Union City, CA 94587
United States
 
Phone:   +1-510-675-9800
Fax:   +1-510-315-3077

https://www.google.com/maps/place/29300+Kohoutek+Way,+Union+City,+CA+94587,+USA/@37.6086997,-122.0816538,3a,75y,58.7h,87.36t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1scMyROTD7oULV_Aj-LCkklA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192!4m5!3m4!1s0x808f942abe9c1bf7:0x4372eb99c211dd66!8m2!3d37.6092756!4d-122.0816167

[klock22a]

Yikes, 4 years later they are still not replying and still taking credit card information? I think I will contact the California Attorney general's office.

[macStuff]

why dont you contact Yahoo? they are the ones providing them with the ecommerce site
"Need help with something?Call us Mon - Fri, 6am to 5pm PT1-866-781-9246"
https://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/tos-center
https://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/
https://help.smallbusiness.yahoo.net/s/article/SLN29458
https://login.yahoosmallbusiness.com/login

id love some answers aswell so i wish u good luck in finding out what really is the deal here

if you ask me i think they are probably picking + choosing which orders to respond to; and ignoring customers that are inquiring about items they dont have in stock; failing to update their website to reflect that they no longr have stock; etc because they keep adding products to their site + adding "sales" on certain items; all while not responding to customers about older products; bad business practices;

if they still had a bunch of stock on the older items you would see them trying to blow it out by offering deals/sales etc

https://www.firmtek.com/news/
if u check their news page theres no new "news" since 2014

[klock22a]

Yes, it is all very suspicious. I think I will do both. Thanks for pointing that out. The good news is, I don't see a charge on my card, but the concern would be, 2 months from now they ship something I don't want, etc. and/or someone is collecting credit card information for potential identity theft. I have called every Firmtek number (dial by name that I could figure out) including Kim Stanford, who is listed as the owner, and she is not answering nor returning voice messages. Surely an odd way to run a company.

[macStuff]

maybe you can take some comfort in the fact that they do have a privacy policy posted and claim to not share any customer info with anyone and would be legally held to such

[klock22a]

I would not have posted this if I had any "comfort". It is false advertising alone to make it look like you have an item for sale, but never plan to deliver on it. Then, no forms of communication they have provided work-webform and phone. Only way I'll be satisfied is if someone shuts the site down and/or they can deliver product, but it sure looks like you are correct in that they do not product to deliver any longer.

There was a guy that posted on this site that could make a Mac OS 9 bootable SATA card, but when I sent him a message, he never replied. Last posting was about 2 years ago. Are there any Mac OS 9 booting SATA cards still available anywhere?  Thanks

[macStuff]

i have a few of them; sil3112 cards with bios chip swapped to specific brand + flashed to the same firmware as the sonnet Tempo (2 x sata 150)

you could create your own if you sourced the proper brand/size bios chip + got it soldered onto a 6.99$ SIL3112 pci card, and had a pc to flash the card in;
the firmware is posted on seriteks site in plain view

[klock22a]

Some updates:

I filed a complaint with the Attorney General's Office of the State of California through the web submission form process.

I called Yahoo Stores with the number you provided above, but Sunil (heavy Indian accent) has stated that there is nothing they can do.

I cannot find FirmTek LLC as a registered business in the State of California.

The website, Firmtek.com ICANN information was updated in December 2017 with Network Solutions, but the domain does not expire until 2023.

It is very possible that someone has just walked away from this business and that all the "paid" services have yet to expire, but someone should shut down the collecting of credit card information at minimum. I told Sunil at Yahoo that I am just letting Yahoo know at least that they may have a problem here on their hands and what they choose to do with that, is their problem ultimately. I am just making them aware on the behalf of others and myself that "something is wrong" and I do not need to know all the privacy details which they cannot disclose, etc.

Anyway, hopefully someone else here can benefit from this knowledge. Any links to Firmtek on this site should be removed to stop anyone else from making the mistake that I did in placing an order with them.

Thanks

[macStuff]

thanks for inquiring further + taking the time to share that information with the community

[macStuff]

i just received a one word reply to my inquiry; i simply asked if they were still in business and someone named Michael wrote me back and said Yes!

[klock22a]

What method did you use as their webform was broken last several times I have tried ?  I did a receive a reply from the California Attorney General's Office stating they were sending them an inquiry.

[macStuff]

i used this form:
https://www.firmtek.com/contact/

[klock22a]

Well, I'll be _____ (insert word). Maybe Xavier (Thank You AG of CA) did get them to wake up !! The form just worked!!! It's a miracle, LOL....

Form Submission Successful

Thank you for submitting your request. We will be contacting you soon.


Maybe I'll get an answer!!!

[klock22a]

Have some great news to report! I now have a brand new SeriTek/1eV2+2 card that I received today from Firmtek and it boots my SATA SSD with Mac OS 9!!!!!!!!!! For the first time in my G4 MDD's history, I can now do it !!!!

Thanks for the information here and to the Attorney General's Office of the State of California!!!!!!

[refinery]

Have some great news to report! I now have a brand new SeriTek/1eV2+2 card that I received today from Firmtek and it boots my SATA SSD with Mac OS 9!!!!!!!!!! For the first time in my G4 MDD's history, I can now do it !!!!

Thanks for the information here and to the Attorney General's Office of the State of California!!!!!!

wow that's pretty wild. did they give you any kind of explanation?
their web form still shows a few other cards as "available"... has me half tempted to try my luck....

[klock22a]

This was the only non canned reply:

Hi,
The order will ship this week. Sorry for the delay.
Michael
FirmTek, LLC

[macStuff]

did you get the card?

[klock22a]

Yes, a long time ago.

[(S)ATAman]

Wow. Looking at their recent recommendation scores of one star out of five I went ballistic.
Than I found this "gem":

https://www.firmtek.com/scholarships/news/Scholarship-Report.pdf

Than I said: "WTF"

Than I found this forum.

Than I started to put the life in my old machines.
G4 MDD was rebuilt, the first "new" build of SImage 3124 driver did see the light yesterday.

And bought an other G4 MDD single proc 1GHZ for $35 in the mean time.
Live in two countries, everything is mirrored, even mirrored doors.

[wnlewis]

I placed an order with Firmtek on May 2nd for a SeriTek/1eVE2+2: 2-Port Internal, 2-Port External PCI-X Adapter. The site took my credit card information, but I do not see any charge applied. However, I do not see any update to my order information either. I have tried calling their number at least 20 times over several days and no one is answering the phone--not a single person including who is listed as the owner of the company (I did just leave her a voice message). Does anyone know if this company is still in business? I also tried using their contact form and that does not work either.

Firmtek/Seritek is a Chinese front end in the US. I believe it used to be, or was started by, some ex-Apple employees.

They do not answer their phone. And they only charge the card when they place an order for stuff.

The card you want is no longer available. However, they do have the Firmtek/Seritek v4 version of that card (or did when I bought one about two years ago).

Go to: https://firmtek.stores.yahoo.net/sata1v4.html. It will cost about $120.00. If you are going to use IDE (ATA) drives with it, make sure you order the ATA to SATA adapter cards. The adapters are designed for use on notebook drives, but will fit a standard drive. You just have to seat them very carefully.

As I said, they seem to still be in business but they do not provide any support for these "legacy products." And they do not answer the phone or Emails and will only reply if you have a problem and threaten to send back the equipment.

The equipment works! Don't try to make a system of hodge podge, flashed this and that from where ever you can find salvaged items (or ex-PC stuff). Firmtek/Seritek stuff works. My G4 runs and boots natively from 9, 10.4, 10.5, and Linux, all off an SSD and ATA drives connected through Firmtek/Seritek equipment.

[IIO]

...for 120 dollars